DIY: CREATING A BARN WOOD LOOK

Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend.  It's been a little hectic for me, these past few weeks; especially the past few days.  But, a good-hectic one.  The barn wedding I've been preparing for and designing was this weekend and now over.  I can't wait to share with you the details and my experience on it, soon.

Today, I wanted to share with you one of the projects I worked on for the barn wedding.  I created a faux barn wood look to a simple pine chest.  The "thank you" chest was used as a place to put the wedding cards, received from guests.  It was a fun project that's easy to follow.

It started with a plain, pine box - full of potential.  

Here's the pine box:

The bride-to-be gave me full control to come up with something that would be special for her wedding day.

The vision I had for this box started with inspiration from their wedding venue - The barn!  Specifically, the silos and their old, weathered-gray finish.  

Here's my inspiration:

Since, the inside of the barn is all wood (light and dark times), I wanted to add a nice contrast. And, what better way than to bring the look of the outside, indoors. Take a look at the after shots.

To create this look (or similar look), I followed a step-by-step tutorial, thanks to The House of Smiths.  The beauty of this project is, you can create your own unique look.  No two looks are the same.  I skipped the optional step (creating a distressed look).  Just remember:  you are in total control of this project; adding layers to create a faux barn wood look. 

Here are some of the products you'll need:

I used a tinted paint by Olympic (purchased at Lowes).  The color is "Weathered Barnwood".  The first step, before applying the stain is to make sure your piece has been sanded for  a smooth finish.  This particular piece didn't require much sanding.   

Once you have sanded and cleaned (free of any sanding dust), apply the stain. You'll want to give it a coat or two.

Here's what it looks like after applying the stain.

Allow the stain to dry.  I waited about 30 minutes to dry.

The next step is to use a latex primer paint (no picture).  I used what we had in our house (primer by Benjamin Moore).  Using a foam brush, dip and remove any access paint.  You're lightly dry brushing over the weathered barn wood stain.  And, don't worry if you happen to get too much in one spot.  You can sand it later.  You'll begin to see the look you want to create when dry brushing.  This dried pretty quickly, since it doesn't require a heavy coat.

After the primer, use some gray flat paint.  I had plenty of gray paints but didn't want to experiment on this chest so I used what House of Smiths suggested.  As with the primer, you are literally dry brushing the gray flat paint.  

The next step is to use that same gray paint and add a dollop of black craft paint (see picture below).  I used VERY little and dry brushed it on card board first to see how it came out.  Since this chest was for a wedding, I did not want to screw this up.  Then I applied it sparingly on the chest, making sure it had that weathered look I was trying to achieve.

Here's a closeup shot:

If you need to sand over areas that were painted too thick, you can lightly sand over that area to thin it out.  

The final step is to take your weathered barn wood stain and apply a thin coat to the whole surface.  Here's the end result:

I love the way it turned out! I impressed myself.

 Here's the finished look, after decorating it for the wedding.

This was such a fun project!  I can't wait to try it on a piece of furniture.  

Thanks again to House of Smiths for the tutorial and inspiration!

xo,